In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde alone, more than 30,000 patients had to wait more than four hours for treatment in the 12 months to April – three times as many as in 2008-09.

Around 10,000 of them were kept hanging on because there were no beds available.

The four-hour target was met in 90.3 per cent of patients in December 2012 – the lowest since July 2007.

Lamont clashed with Alex Salmond about the figures at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood.

She said: “In John McGarrity’s area of Glasgow, the number of patients who waited over four hours to be seen has more than trebled, going up from 10,100 in 2009 to 31,700 this year.”

“In NHS Lanarkshire, the Health Secretary’s own back yard, the number of patients waiting more than four hours in A&E has also more than trebled.

“In Grampian, the First Minister’s back yard, there was a 1300 increase in patients waiting more than four hours in A&E compared to last year.”

Salmond told her that the Government had increased spending on the NHS, despite “extraordinary financial pressure”.

He said that wouldn’t have happened under Labour who, he added, were in “no position to pose as the defender of the NHS”.

The First Minister also said the £50million fund would shorten emergency treatment times.

Later, Salmond’s spokesman said Lamont “doesn’t have a leg to stand on” when it comes to Labour’s record on accident and emergency care.

He added: “Labour proposed to close A&E units in Monklands and Ayr and a look at admission rates there shows the damage that would have done.”

But Lamont said: “While patients on trolleys hope to survive through the night, Alex Salmond only cares about delivering a soundbite to survive half an hour, once a week, at First Minister’s Questions. Scotland deserves better.”